City poly game

In , one of the most famous Poly-City games was played. Prior to the game, the eligibility of City's halfback, Mickey Noonen, was challenged. A committee was formed to investigate Noonen's eligibility, but Noonen's father—frustrated with the investigation—struck one of the members of the committee.

The result was that Noonen was not only barred from the team, but also expelled from the Baltimore City school system. In spite of Noonen's removal, the two teams met at the Baltimore Stadium with 20, fans in attendance.

The game remained scoreless well into the fourth quarter. Finally, Poly's Harry Lawrence—who later became a coach at City—kicked a successful field goal from the yard leading to a 3—0 victory over City. The s ushered in a period of resurgence for the City team. Poly, which had dominated in the previous two decades, only picked up two wins in the s In , Harry Lawrence, who had kicked the winning field goal against City in , became the head coach at his former rival.

Lawrence led City to a series of victories over Poly through the s and early s. In , the game, which had been played on the Saturday following Thanksgiving , was moved to Thanksgiving Day. The change was the result of a scheduling conflict with the Army — Navy Game The game remained on Thanksgiving Day for nearly 50 years. Poly won five straight games against City to open the s, and 9 of the decade's 10 games, under legendary coach Bob Lumsden, for whom the school's current football stadium is named.

Lumsden finished with an 11—7 record against City when he retired as head coach in The team's fortunes changed later in the s, when City was coached by George Young.

Young guided his teams to six wins over Poly, and an equal number of state championships. Poly controlled the series throughout the s, and well into the s. City lost a total of 17 consecutive games to Poly, before winning the 99th meeting between the two programs in Poly's dominance during this period is the longest winning streak in the series. City also went on to win the historic th showdown a year later, before Poly got on another roll, starting with the st clash in This change meant that the football season would end earlier, forcing Poly and City to move their game from Thanksgiving Day to the first Saturday in November.

Poly and City met for the th time on November 8, Baltimore Polytechnic Institute and Baltimore City College then met for the st time on November 7, with the score of 26— Poly and City met for the nd time on November 6, One of the most memorable City-Poly games occurred on Thanksgiving Day , at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium , with some 25, fans in attendance.

Both teams entered the game undefeated and City beat Poly 52—6, and completed a 10—0 season with the team finishing the season ranked eighth in the nation by a national sports poll. City's 52—6 victory over Poly in that game is the largest margin of victory in the history of the series. City College won the th meeting in by routing Poly by a final score of 42—6, the school's fourth consecutive victory in the series.

A leather football helmet, padded canvas knee length trousers, and a single shin guard show hard use, and it is no wonder; the donor, Robert E Lee Hall, Jr. A ticket from the game is in the MdHS H. Furlong Baldwin Library's sports ephemera collection. The Helmet is a ring of padded leather with a small pad on top and padded leather ear flaps. The ear flaps have holes pierced in the sides. There are remnants of a chin strap on one side and an elastic strap with a D ring on the other side.

Football Helmet, c. Lee Hall, Jr. The pants are canvas with large squares of quilting stuffed with batting. The right leg shows a rough repair with large stitches holding extra padding in the knee and thigh area. It seems Mr. Hall needed some extra padding on that leg. How big was City-Poly on Thanksgiving Day? Big enough that MemorialStadium would be erupting with students and alumni roaring to the skies.

Bigenough that at its peak, not one but two local TV stations and radio all carriedthe game. Big enough that graduates from both schools would identifytheir high school years by the outcomes of the big holiday game. It was Tom Duley, whose yard return of a kickoff withonly seconds remaining in the first half propelled City to victory and becamethe stuff of legend.

This was November of Entering that final game of the season, City had only won two games allyear, while Poly had only lost two games. Poly looked primed for an easy win. Two weeksearlier, John F. Kennedy defeated Richard M. Nixon to become president of theUnited States.